Three individuals who were arrested while serving as NLG Legal Observers during the #J20 protests on Inauguration Day submitted this testimony to the DC City Council in opposition to Peter Newsham (currently Interim Police Chief) being confirmed as the permanent Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief of Police, citing:

“His disrespect for First Amendment rights as evidenced by the blatant violations of those rights we observed as NLG Legal Observers by officers under his command during the Inauguration protests of January 20, 2017

The fact that he and his department committed these violations despite having been sanctioned in the past for nearly identical violations, and